


I Followed Fires (to Walk the Sun)

by anothersouladrift



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Avengers and Darcy are wildland firefighters, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis-centric, F/M, Firefighter AU, I Don't Even Know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-30 10:31:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5160485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anothersouladrift/pseuds/anothersouladrift
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all started her sophomore year of college. The family situation changed, and all of a sudden Darcy Lewis found herself unable to pay for her next year of school. What was a girl to do? She was already working part time throughout the school year to support herself and save a bit for tuition, but unless she found a truly amazing summer job there was no way that she was going to be able to come back to Culver in the fall. So Darcy googled “summer jobs that make the most money for college students” and applied to the top few. Little did she know that this was the decision that changed her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Running

It all started her sophomore year of college. The family situation changed, and all of a sudden Darcy Lewis found herself unable to pay for her next year of school. What was a girl to do? She was already working part time throughout the school year to support herself and save a bit for tuition, but unless she found a truly amazing summer job there was no way that she was going to be able to come back to Culver in the fall. So Darcy googled “summer jobs that make the most money for college students” and applied to the top few. Little did she know that this was the decision that changed her life.

 

_Call from Unknown Number._

 

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Darcy Lewis?”

“This is she. What can I do for you?”

“This is Phil Coulson. I’m the assistant crew boss for Crew 101 out of the SHIELD Ranger District, in Thompson Falls, Washington. I have your resume here in front of me. Are you really from Thompson Falls?”

“Um, yes I am. It’s my hometown, but I go to school at Culver now.”

“So your parents or someone still lives in the area?”

“Yes….”

“Well then Miss Lewis, I would like to offer you a job on a ten person hand crew out of the SHIELD Ranger District.”

“I’m sorry.. a what?”

“A ten person hand crew… A wildland firefighting module? Do you accept?”

“I... Of course!”

 

Darcy swallowed thickly as she hung up her phone after arranging her start date. What had she gotten herself into?

 

 

On June 1st, Darcy showed up bright and early at 6:45a.m. to the SHIELD Ranger District office. It was weird being back in her hometown of Thompson Falls, the town was so small that the office was about four blocks away from her house. At least it was a convenient commute?

 

Darcy’s boss, Phil Coulson, had told her to show up at 0700 and to have the paperwork filled out that they sent her. Once she arrived, she was supposed to wander towards the back of the compound and look for someone wearing a FIRE shirt. So she wandered.

She came across a large blond man wearing a FIRE shirt carrying a bag of trash. She asked him if he could show her to Phil Coulson’s office. After introducing himself as Thor, (was that a nickname?) he handed off the bag to another man in a FIRE shirt, Sam Wilson, and then led her into the main office.

Inside, she quickly met everyone in charge of fire at the SHIELD ranger district. Darcy quickly felt out of place in her jeans and t-shirt. Everyone was wearing a blue forest service shirt with the SHIELD RD logo on the front, and [some sturdy looking green pants](http://www.supplycache.com/images/105.49901.jpg). Nick Fury, the crew boss of Crew 101 was her actual boss, and Phil was the assistant crew boss. They sat her down and quickly worked through her paperwork and went over expectations, using a ton of terms that Darcy had never even heard of, let alone know what they were. They also told her that she needed to vocalize if she was ever offended. “Fire is just a different atmosphere. We work together, we play together, and sometimes we can get a bit gross. You need to speak up if we say something that offends you, or if you feel uncomfortable, okay?”

Darcy nodded her head, trying to understand what they meant by ‘gross.’

“Any questions?” They asked at the end of the briefing.

“So many. But first, um..why did you hire me? I don’t have any experience in fire.”

“You’re from the area! We don’t have any more bunkhouse space and we needed one more to round out the crew. You are the only rookie this year, but I think you’ll catch on fast.” Phil answered with a smile. “Are you ready to get geared up?”

“Yep!” Darcy answered with a confident smile, trying to hide how truly overwhelmed she felt.

They headed back out to the “cache” which housed all the fire equipment and gear. The cache was a small building, but it was filled to the brim. The main room had a fridge, and a long table in the center, with folding chairs around it. Along the walls were lockers, with everyone’s last name written on them. In the next room over was literally everything you could need to fight fire. Darcy was assigned a locker, and as she threw her backpack into it she heard someone enter the cache behind her.

“Hey Steve!” Phil greeted the man who had just entered, another large, tall blond man, but with shorter hair and a bit of stubble across his cheeks. “This is Darcy. She is the final addition to the crew. She’s going to be on your squad.”

Darcy smiled and extended her hand. “Hi, nice to meet you.”

Steve returned her smile and handshake. “You want me to get her squared away?” He asked Phil.

“Yep. Then when you’re finished with that why don’t you guys PT?”

“Sounds good.” Steve said as Phil headed back to the main office.

“Okay, first things first, let’s get you out of those clothes.”

Darcy’s eyes widened and cheeks flushed. “Um, I mean, get you some nomex.” Steve walked quickly over to one locker and began rummaging inside.

“What’s your size? For pants?”

He called over to Darcy, whose cheeks had finally stopped burning. “Um, I have no idea. Girl pants don’t measure the same way as guys.”

“It’s so dumb. Here. I think these ought to fit.” He handed her two pairs of green pants and two [yellow long sleeved button up shirts](http://fireline.onlineworkbook.com/images/uploads/product_images/212/4500272-front.jpg), as well as two short sleeved tshirts, [blue ones](http://static.wixstatic.com/media/694b21_b3dd58fc8adf42e998316f62ded1d1ee.jpg_srb_p_600_650_75_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_jpg_srb), like everyone else was wearing. “Why don’t you try this stuff on and I’ll round up the rest of the stuff you’ll need.” He pointed for a corner behind a row of storage boxes for her to change behind. She quickly got dressed, thankful that everything fit so she didn’t have to ask Steve for different sizes. She came back out and threw her spare clothes into her locker.

Steve had put a bunch of gear on the table in the middle of the cache, spread out so that everything was visible.

“So here is your line gear, and your three day bag, and your red bag. You’re new to fire, right?”

“What gave it away?” Darcy joked back.

Steve smirked at her. “Okay, so I will just go over everything real fast so that you know what all everything is.” He pointed out a [large black backpack](http://www.mysteryranch.com/hot-top-pack), her line gear, apparently. He named off items as he placed them in the pack. “Map, compass, extra gloves, space blanket, glow sticks, p-cord, [MRE](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/MRE_20071124.PNG), four quart bottles, and finally, this is your [fire shelter](http://www.advancedtechrescue.net/inc/prodImages/1421Presentation1.jpg).” He held up a small square of what looked like tin foil wrapped in plastic. “Hopefully you’ll never need it, but you’ll learn more about that at Guard School. Have they told you about that yet?”

Darcy shook her head, eyes still focused on the fire shelter.

“Okay, well tomorrow they are shipping you out to this school where you learn all about fire for a week. You have to get your Red Card, that’s your firefighting certification, and you have to pass the pack test. You’ll go with some of the other people from the district. Usually the district sends people from every department to get trained, that way if a fire blows up big we have some extra resources in the area.”

Darcy nodded her understanding. This was a lot of information to take in, but she was doing her best not to be overwhelmed.

“Okay. This is your [three day bag](http://guideimg.alibaba.com/images/shop/100/12/18/5/wildland-fire-red-bag-maxpedition-3-in-1-load-out-duffel-bag_191475.jpg).” He pointed to a large black duffel bag. “This is where your sleeping bag and therma-rest live, and anything else that you need to survive for three days in the woods, so socks, underwear, deodorant, that kind of thing. You should bring all that stuff in tomorrow.”

Darcy added it to her mental to do list before Steve moved on.

He pointed to the red duffel bag left on the table. “This is your [red bag](http://www.gear911.com/images/D/Red%20Bag.jpg). We take these on two week assignments. So basically you need enough stuff in here to survive for two weeks. It’s like the three day bag, but for fourteen instead. You’ll pack your red bag for guard school, and take that and your line gear, so I would do that tonight so that tomorrow you can bring it back and make sure you have everything you need. Make sense?”

Darcy nodded.

Left on the table was a tent, a green notebook, a blank notebook, and an orange fabric rectangle with Velcro on it. Steve stuck the notebooks in the orange fabric, which had pockets on both sides, and then closed like a book with Velcro to hold it shut. “This is your [man purse](http://www.topstitch.net/image/cache/data/products/manpurse1-500x500.JPG). It has your IRPG- Incident Response Pocket Guide, and a blank notebook for your own use. You need to keep this on you at all times. Put it in your side pocket, and let it live there.” He handed it to Darcy who quickly did as she was told. “What about the tent?” Darcy asked.

“Oh.” Steve handed it to her. “Just put it on top of your locker. We don’t use ‘em.” Darcy felt her jaw drop open, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to close it.

“Okay then! Let’s PT! I’ll go grab the rest of the crew, and you can get changed into some PT clothes.” He headed out of the cache, but before he reached the doorway Darcy called out, “Hey Steve?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s PT?” Darcy asked.

Steve smiled wide. “Physical Training. Welcome to one of the only jobs where you get paid to work out.” His smile grew wider with the last, and then he was gone.

 

Darcy quickly changed into some workout clothes and tennis shoes. She was pulling her hair back into a ponytail when Steve led everyone back into the cache. There was Thor, and Sam, who she had met earlier, but there was also a man with black hair, another blond man, talking to a short red-headed woman, and a man with brown hair.

“Okay, everybody, this is Darcy. Darcy, this is everybody.” Darcy smiled and waved, and thankfully, the crew smiled back at her. “This is Tony, he’s the truck lead for Alpha.” Steve had put his hand on Tony’s back as he introduced him, shaking him slightly. “And that’s Clint and Nat,” he pointed to the blond man and the only woman.

“And I’m Bucky.” The remaining man said, offering his hand.

“Nice to meet you all!” Darcy responded.

“Alright, let’s go PT before it gets too hot.” Tony said, and headed outside, everyone else followed him out. They walked over to the track. It was technically the high school’s track, but Thompson Falls being such a small town, it didn’t matter if they used it. “We are gonna do a ball run. Ever done a ball run Darcy?” Tony asked as the gathered at the edge of the track.

“Can’t say that I have.”

“It’s real easy. We all run in a single file line, and then we start passing this football back down the line. Once it hits the back person that person sprints to the front, and it starts all over again. If the ball drops, everybody does twenty push ups. Do you think you got it?”

“How long do we run for?” Darcy asked.

“Until I say stop. Wilson, you first.” Tony threw the ball at Sam, who caught it and took off running. Everyone else followed. Darcy ended up in about the middle of the line, behind Steve. The ball was passed back, and back and back, and then suddenly someone dropped it. They were too far in front for Darcy to see who it was, but Steve yelled out “drop!” Everyone stopped where they were and did twenty pushups. Darcy threw herself to the ground and pushed through them as quickly as she could. Once they were finished, it was back up, and off again. Suddenly it was Darcy who was in the back of the line. The ball landed perfectly in her hands, and she sprinted past the crew, muscles surging, lungs burning, but a smile plastered to her face. As she ran she heard various crew members call out encouragements. Her grin grew bigger. This was fun as shit. She threw the ball back and waited for Steve to sprint past her. “Nice job.” She said, as he blew past her. They kept going, around and around the track. Darcy did well, only dropping the ball once, when Steve got fed up that no one had dropped it in a while and purposefully threw it so she had to lunge for it. She caught it, but hit the grass next to the track. She was back up in a second, but Steve still counted it as a drop.

They finished PT with a sprint for the last tenth of a mile, which sucked, but felt awesome when they were done. They had ended up running two miles.

 

Steve had them go change in the cache. Darcy desperately wanted a shower, as she was covered in a nice sheen of sweat, but that did not seem in the cards, as everyone shrugged back into their [boots](http://www.baileysonline.com/productImages/image.axd/i.400VLTT/w.1000/h.1000/x._AZ/xm.0/White's+10++Lace-to-Toe+Smoke+Jumper+Boots_L.jpg) and greens, so she quickly followed suit.

 

By then it was lunch time, so everyone sat around the table in the cache, eating their lunches and shooting the shit. They had a half hour lunch, so it didn’t make sense to try to leave the compound.

 

Steve had run into the main office to check on what they were supposed to do next, and came back out as they finished up lunch. “We’re gonna have a crew meeting. Circle up outside when you’re finished.”

Darcy stuck the last of her sandwich in her mouth and filed outside with the rest of the crew. There was a long bench, in the shade of some tall pine trees, next to a bunch of bars of varying heights, and some tires, obviously there for PT. The crew sat on the bench, and on the ground, forming a loose circle. Sam and Bucky were having a competition to see who could do more chin ups when Nick and Phil came out of the main office. Sam and Bucky quickly finished their fun and popped a squat with everyone else as Nick and Phil came up and joined the circle.

 

“How was PT?” Nick asked. “Feel good?”

Everyone nodded back.

“Everybody keep up?” Nick asked Steve.

“Yep.” Steve nodded vigorously.

“Good. Cuz it’s just the start of what is looking to be an incredible season. Fuel moistures are what they are usually mid July, right now. That’s real bad.” He said the last bit with a hint of a smile on his face, eyes on Darcy’s confused look.

“Let’s get down to why we are actually meeting Nick.” Phil gently prodded.

“Right, right. Okay, hopefully everyone has had the chance to introduce themselves by now. We are going to go over rig assignments. So get out a piece of paper, or impress me with your memory.”

He waited as people dug into their pockets for their man purses and notepads. Darcy pulled her notebook out and then realized she didn’t have anything to write with. A pen suddenly appeared on her lap. She looked up, and saw Natasha flash a wink at her before she turned back to her own notepad.

“Alright, on Alpha truck we have Tony, the truck lead. For lead saw we have Clint, and for alternate saw we have Natasha. Crew member is Thor. For Bravo truck, we have Steve as the truck lead. Sam will usually be the lead saw, with Bucky being alternate saw, and crew member is Darcy. I will usually ride in Alpha, and Phil will usually ride in Bravo. Everybody clear?”

A variety of affirmations gave him what he needed to know.

“Alright, next order of business. We need to gas up the rigs. Why doesn’t everybody load up and take care of that right now?”

Everybody nodded, stood, and headed for the trucks parked in front of the cache. Darcy hesitated, not sure how to tell the [two identical trucks](http://www.summitbodies.com/img/models/timberline/intro.jpg) apart. “This one, Darcy.” Steve said and pulled her to the one on the right. Darcy added ‘Be able to tell trucks apart’ to her mental to do list.

They loaded up, and Nick and Phil headed back into the main office. Darcy guessed they didn’t need to run errands. Bucky was driving, Steve was riding shotgun, and Sam and Darcy sat in the back. Bucky fiddled with the music for a minute before settling on a classic country station. Sam let out a long moan as the truck started moving. “Dear god Barnes, have you no mercy?”

Bucky just smirked and put his blinker on.

“The boy has no taste. Country, country, country. We need some variety up in here.” Sam complained.

“Hey, driver picks the music. That’s what we decided at the beginning of the summer Sam.” Steve said appeasingly.

“Yeah, but then you never let me drive,” mumbled Sam.

Darcy leaned over, “they never let me drive either.”

Sam snorted. “Yeah, they don’t let any rookies drive. The forest service is very particular with their government vehicles.” He gave Darcy an appraising look. “You seem to be handling everything pretty well so far, but it’s okay to acknowledge how overwhelming this is. It’s a lot of information to take in all at once.”

Darcy snorted. That was a bit of an understatement.

“Okay, so protocol at the gas station is to take care of the truck before you take care of yourself. So two people wipe down the windows while the driver gases up and someone takes the trash out of the rig. Then if there’s time you can go into the gas station.”

Darcy wrinkled her brow. “Why would I want to go into the gas station?”

“Oh you’ll see.” Sam said as they pulled up to the gas pump.

Darcy hopped out and got a squidgy to wash the windshield with and Sam grabbed one to do the side windows. Bucky gassed up the rig, and Steve went over to Tony to talk about something while Clint, Natasha and Thor performed similar tasks to Alpha. Once Bucky was finished gassing up, he hightailed it into the gas station, followed shortly by Steve and Tony, then even Clint, Natasha and Thor followed. Darcy turned to Sam for an explanation. “Go on girly, I will stay with the trucks” he shrugged.

Darcy wandered inside the gas station only to find the crew in the process of buying the gas station clean out of food.

They were lined up in front of the deli counter, buying everything hot and fried that the gas station had to offer, despite finishing lunch only about an hour and a half earlier. Darcy bought herself a small iced coffee, as well as one for Sam and headed back to the truck. Sam smiled broadly at the coffee and then climbed back into the truck.

“How are they already hungry?” Darcy asked as she climbed in after him.

“Firefighting is a crazy job, Darcy. Your metabolism gets insane. We can burn through about 4,000 calories _in a day_ on a fire. You’ll get it once we get out there.” Sam smiled and looked up at the sky, which was starting to get a bit cloudy.

“Looks like some [cash clouds](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B8GmeV612o4/UFl3q7IGRKI/AAAAAAAADMU/p8Py2PY2SNE/s1600/cumulus-clouds.jpg).”

“Cash clouds..?”

“Thunderclouds. Thunderstorm. Lightning. Wildfire. Hazard pay.” Sam turned to face Darcy. “But you’re headed to Guard school tomorrow, so you won’t get a taste of that yet. When you get back though….”

Darcy swallowed thickly and tried not to let Sam see her shaking hands.


	2. Creeping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Darcy goes to Guard School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so thankful to see the positive response that this fic got. I was really nervous that this was going to be too out there, but I am glad people are liking it! Here's the next chapter!

Darcy was relieved to discover that Natasha was going with her to Guard School, though she was going to finish her training to become a squad boss, not basic firefighter training like Darcy.

Upon arriving at the camp Darcy was assigned a squad boss for the week, as well as a squad, made up of six other people. Darcy got assigned Natasha for squad boss, and there were two other women on the squad, both from SHIELD ranger district as well. At first it seemed like they were just scientists who talked about dirt a lot, but Darcy soon learned that Jane Foster and Betty Ross both worked in Soils at SHIELD.

Over the course of the week Darcy attended class everyday for about eight hours, learning all about wildland firefighting. She took classes on tools, techniques, weather, vehicles, chain of command, and pretty much everything in between. It was a lot of work, but Darcy felt comfortable in the more academic setting that was Guard School. Twice during the week they were awoken by the squad bosses yelling at them to wake up, and that they had ten minutes to be outside in yellows for a PT hike.

“For every minute that you are late, everyone and I mean EVERYONE will have to do ten push ups!” One of the squad bosses yelled.

The first time it happened Darcy rubbed the sleep out of her eyes to look at her watch only to have it read 5:30a.m. Darcy hustled and made it outside with time to spare, but one of the men had apparently been in the shower when the wake up call was given, and was seven minutes late. Everyone grumbled as they got on their hands and knees and started their seventy push ups.

The hike wasn’t bad, but many people had trouble keeping up with the brisk pace the squad bosses set, especially with all of their line gear on their backs.

After the second early morning wake up and subsequent PT hike Darcy sought out Natasha for a word.

“I just don’t understand why they are doing this to us. We didn’t sign up for the army.”

Natasha let out a sharp laugh at that, and then put a hand on Darcy’s shoulder before guiding her over to a couch in the corner.

“No you did not. But in this line of work you have to be hard. Harder than an early wake up, or a hike that you don’t want to take. Harder than people yelling at you. You have to be able to take direction under all circumstances, especially when you are tired and don’t want to.” Natasha smiled softly at Darcy as she finished.

“That makes sense… I still don’t like being yelled at to wake up though.” Darcy smiled back.

Guard School was simultaneously too long and too short. For Darcy, the week seemed to fly by, especially when she was chatting with Jane, Betty, or Natasha. Thursday arrived before she knew it, which also happened to be the day of the pack test. Darcy was nervous, but she knew that she was capable.

They hauled everyone to a nearby school track and had them grab [45 pound packs](http://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Laguna-Hot-Shots-taking-Pack-Test.jpg). 

Darcy managed to grab one of the smaller, newer packs which are less bulky than the old version. The squad bosses had them line up and quickly went over the rules once more before they let them begin. Three miles, in less than forty five minutes, with the forty five pound pack was what was necessary in order to pass. No running. One foot on the ground at all times, so a brisk walk was the fastest you could move. If you feel light headed, please stop yourself. At every lap your squad boss will tell you your pace, and if you need to speed it up or if you are fine on time. If you get too far behind you will be asked to stop, as you will be unable to catch up to get a passing grade.

Darcy knew all of this information, and so she just nodded and waited for the whistle to blow.

Darcy was sweating by the first half mile. They had waited until 7p.m. to run the test, but it was still very warm outside. By the end of the first mile she wished that she had brought her ipod with her. Natasha kept smiling and giving her a thumbs up when she passed her, so she must be doing okay time wise. She was in the front quarter of the testers, trying to keep pace with people who she knew had passed the pack test before. She was annoyed by the people in the very front, all very tall, with incredibly long legs. They could take a normal length stride and still make a 15 minute mile, but for Darcy, she had to really stretch in order to get a 15 minute mile, but such was the luck of the vertically challenged.

After the first mile she noticed a few people had been pulled aside, asked to stop the test because they were so far behind. Seeing them only made Darcy push harder. She needed this job. She would complete the pack test with time to spare. The second mile went faster than the first, but the third made up for it by seeming longer than both combined. It wasn’t that it was difficult, which it was, but that it was boring. There was nothing but the pressure of the pack to focus on. It was starting to feel like a lot of pressure. Darcy felt the sweat drip down her back, and between her boobs. She pushed harder, upping her pace for the last quarter mile stretch. Natasha gave her a huge grin, and told her her time. “42:10! Excellent time Darcy! Go grab some water and take your pack off! Walk a lap while you drink it.” Natasha pointed her to the water and then turned back to monitoring the rest of the squad.

Darcy practically flung the pack off her back. Walking without it felt like flying it was so easy. She grabbed a water and started a slow, unhurried pace for her lap around the track. They didn’t want anyone to pass out, or be too sore, which is why they were having them walk after the intense labor their muscles had been through. Darcy finished her lap and was glad to see that Jane and Betty passed the test too.

 

The next day they had written exams for three hours in the morning. They had to show that they had retained the information from the week’s worth of classes. After turning in her test Darcy waited outside with the rest of her squad to see if they passed. After about an hour Natasha came out of the building holding a bunch of small white cards. She passed them out to each squad member. They were their Red Cards!

“Congratulations! You are now all qualified to fight wildland fire! Let’s go home.” Natasha grinned. She had received her squad boss qualifications as a result of her hard work that week, she told Darcy on their way back to the truck. She couldn’t wait to get back and tell Clint. Apparently they had a _thing_. This was news to Darcy, but then again, she had only been around them together for a day. On the drive back to SHIELD they chatted about Natasha’s love life, and Darcy’s lack of one. Natasha and Clint had gotten together two years ago and had been on and off again, mostly due to Natasha’s schooling. She had just graduated with a degree in linguistics with a minor in of all things dance. Darcy talked about her political science major, and her desire to go to law school. She wanted to become a human rights lawyer eventually. They bonded over their mutual love of cheesy eighties movies and music, and by the time they arrived back in Thompson Falls they had made plans for a movie night.

Darcy threw her stuff in her locker and walked to her house, a smile on her face. This job was a lot different than she expected, but so far it seemed pretty awesome, and she definitely worked with some awesome people. She was glad that she had gotten to know Natasha a bit better over the course of the week. She might finally have made an actual friend.


	3. Smoldering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy's first fire!

Since Guard School had ended on a Friday Darcy had two days off before she had to put her new skills to the test.  
She was trying not to freak out. While Darcy did certainly feel more capable of fighting fire now that she had been to guard school, she was also dealing with the realization that this was woefully out of her comfort zone. She had never been a particularly outdoorsy person; although lord knows her family had tried. She simply had never been very interested. And exercise? Well Darcy never considered herself a couch potato, she certainly had never pushed herself to get in great shape prior to getting this job. Before this job she would have turned to the sweet sweet comfort of chocolate and Netflix if she got stressed out over something. Not now though. Now Darcy had woke up early on a Saturday morning, stressed as all get out, and put on her running shoes. Darcy was on mile three of her run and still just as stressed out as before she started.  
What the hell had she gotten herself into?  
Sure, now she knew how to handle herself in theory. But the facts were that she was going to become a ‘professional hiker’ for the summer, as Phil had joked in her entrance orientation. And she didn’t even like hiking! After the pack test Darcy felt a little more confident in her physical abilities, but still, the idea of actually working for sixteen hours a day was a bit intimidating.  
Not to mention that Darcy had never worked with this many dudes ever. Her past jobs included babysitting and working as a barista, neither job which required much contact with men, and especially not the kind of men that she was working with now. They were gruff, and honest, and funny, and crude. And Natasha was awesome, but also a complete badass who still really intimidated her.  
It was a lot.

Before Darcy knew it her weekend was over, and she was once again at work on a Monday morning at 0645.  
The day looked promising, there had been a thunderstorm late last night, and Darcy knew that meant possible lightning strikes. She came in, threw her lunch into her locker, and then pulled her line gear and three day bag out of her locker. She lined them out with the rest of Bravo truck’s gear and then started a rig check. Each truck had a binder and the binder contained a checklist of every item in the truck and bins, broken down into section of the truck. It was part of her, Bucky, and Sam’s responsibilities to do a rig check every morning. She ran through the actual physical items while Bucky and Sam checked the engine, lights, sirens, and breaks. There was excitement in the air, and everyone kept fiddling with their handheld radios, hoping to hear the tone for a fire call. Darcy being a rookie, did not get a radio, so she turned up the truck radio as she did the rig check.  
As they finished up, Steve and Tony came out of the main office.  
“No positive strikes.” Steve said with a sigh to the crew, who had all stopped what they were doing at his approach.  
Various disgruntled noises occurred from the crew.  
“Once we finish up rig checks load your gear and get ready, we are gonna have a patrol day.” Steve said before going to grab his gear to load in the back of the truck.  
Darcy quickly finished the rig check, then grabbed her line gear and three day bag and stuck it in the back of the truck. Then she grabbed her helmet and yellow, as well as her lunch out of her locker, and then stuck them in a side bin. She was incredibly relieved that there were no positive lightning strikes, but she tried not to let it show. She told Sam that she was going to the bathroom and then hustled over to one of the buildings that held a restroom. For some reason the cache didn’t have one, so they used one of the other department’s restrooms, which were housed in a different building. She peed quickly, then came back to the trucks as quickly as possible. Natasha had told her that it was guaranteed that the minute you have to pee will be the minute you get a fire call, so she had hustled.  
Steve had both trucks load up, as Phil and Nick came out of the main office and got in their respective trucks. Darcy was stuck riding in the middle seat with Steve on one side, and Sam on the other, as Phil took shotgun and Bucky drove. Sam and Steve tried valiantly to give Darcy as much room as possible, but there was no way that they weren’t going to end up touching along thighs and shoulders. After a minute Sam seemed to relax, but Steve remained stiff and still next to Darcy as the trucks left the compound.  
Darcy cleared her throat, which caused Steve to jump. “So where are we going?” She asked Phil.  
“On patrol.”  
“And what does that mean, exactly?” Darcy had quickly learned that Phil lived to sound authoritative, so asking him questions was a good way to get in his favor. Phil smiled and turned in his seat to answer her.  
“We are going to drive around until we get a fire call, or until we see smoke. Or until someone threatens murder, in which case we usually will stop for a break.”  
“I thought we didn’t get any positive strikes though?”  
“Just because we didn’t detect any positive strikes doesn’t mean that we didn’t get any. Technology isn’t fool proof.”  
“Yeah, we’re not gonna find anything,” Sam said under his breath to her. “But it’s a nice excuse to get off the compound.”  
Darcy couldn’t agree more. Patrolling turned out to mean driving old back roads until they found a deserted campground to stop at for lunch. They all hopped out of the trucks and found a nice shady spot to enjoy their lunches. Darcy was still amazed at how much food they were capable of putting away. Steve had brought in a half dozen donuts that morning and she had watched him work his way through the entire box by noon, and still have room for a sandwich, a cucumber, an apple, and half a jar of banana peppers. It was ridiculously disgusting to watch, but you couldn’t look away. As they ate lunch they joked and teased one another, giving as good as they got. The way they interacted with each other reminded Darcy of how she teased her brother and sister. Darcy smiled to herself, feeling at home for the first time since she got the job.

They spent a few more days patrolling, but then on Thursday, as they were pulling back into station at around 4pm a fire call came over the radio. “All units report of fire. Standby for location.” Everyone in the truck scrambled to get out their man purse and a pen. “Old Town Campground. Please send ETAs in over the Jackson Repeater.”  
Fury’s voice came in over the radio. “Crew 101 with a ten minute ETA from Thompson Falls.” Darcy held her breath as other crews and engines called in ETAs, but no one with a shorter time. The trucks pulled out of the compound and started heading towards the campground before dispatch called back. “Crew 101 please respond. Engine 10 and Engine 11 please respond at this time as well.”  
Darcy swallowed hard. This was it. She had ten minutes to get her head in the game. She was en route to her first fire.  
Fury’s voice came over the radio, this time on the crew tac channel, which meant just their two trucks would hear him. “Phil, Nick you up on Tac?”  
Phil took the mic off the radio and spoke into it. “Go ahead Nick.”  
“Clint will be on saw and Natasha will swamp. Everyone else will grab hand tools and you will be in charge of the diggers. I will tie in with the other engines upon arrival. Are you clear?” Fury asked.  
“Copy that.”  
Phil turned around to face the backseat. “Steve, I want you on a Pulaski, Darcy, Bucky, and Sam, you all grab a scraper.” Everybody nodded and Darcy tried not to freak out.  
They pulled into the campground and there were a few seconds of silence as everybody took in the fire. It looked small, but they couldn’t see everything from where they parked the rigs. Everybody hopped out and grabbed their helmets and yellows from the sidebins. Darcy stripped out of her blue fire shirt and put on an undershirt and the yellow over it. She tucked them both into her pants and then pulled her helmet on, just like she had practiced at guard school. She started grabbing packs out of the back and lining them out with Bucky’s help while Sam and Steve grabbed tools out of the side bin. Darcy put her pack on and grabbed the tool that Steve handed her. Her hands were shaking and she tried to take a deep breath, but the smell of smoke was so thick in the air that it didn’t do much to help calm her. The other truck was parked right next to them, and so once everyone was ready Phil had everyone circle up in front of the rigs. “Clint and Natasha, you two go and start on the right flank. Just take down any trees that are going to fall over the line. Steve, you take the front and I’ll take the back. After Steve I want Thor, then Darcy, then Tony, then Bucky and Sam.” They got in order and then started walking down to where the fire was about 200 yards further along the road from where they were parked. Thor smiled at Darcy and told her to just do what he did, which made Darcy feel a bit better.  
Phil let out a laugh when they reached the edge of the fire as Clint started up the saw.  
“It’s tiny!” Darcy couldn’t help but agree. She could see the entirety of the fire from where they stood.  
“Can’t be bigger than a quarter acre.” Tony said.  
“Okay new plan. Steve, Darcy, and Thor, you work the right flank. Everybody else lets go work left flank. Clint, work right to the left and then take out any hazard trees in the middle.” Phil took the other half of the crew to the other flank of the fire and Steve and Thor started a direct hand line, only a few feet from the fires edge. Darcy followed after them, using her scraper to move the light layer of pine needles and duff. The fire wasn’t burning very hot and so they were able to move very quickly. The engines had pulled up on either side of the fire and were spraying water on the edges where it was burning most intensely. They only dug for about five minutes before Phil and the other crew members met them at the half way point, connecting the two flanks. Phil went to go tie in with Fury and told everyone else to clean up the hand line and wait for instructions. Darcy, Steve and Thor went back over their hand line just making sure it was extra clean, but it only took about two minutes. Phil came over to them and told them to pair up for mop up, one person with a hose, and one with a hand tool. Since there were two engines they were going to just drown the fire in a short amount of time so everybody could get home at a decent hour. Thor went over to the other half of the crew, leaving Darcy and Steve to partner up.  
“Do you want the hose or the tool?” Steve asked.  
“Uhm, tool.”  
Steve went over to the engine and pulled a hose from one of the live reels. He brought it over to the edge of the fire and started spraying a section of the burnt ground. Darcy came over and started using her hand tool to turn the dirt and burnt needles over, exposing the hot areas to the spray of the water. They worked in silence for a few minutes, with a few corrections from Steve on better form. Darcy tried to think of something to talk about, but couldn’t think of anything smart to say for once in her life, and Steve didn’t seem inclined to talk, so the silence lingered.

They’d been working for about twenty minutes when Steve said they could switch so Darcy could get some practice with the hose.  
Once Steve started using the scraper to loosen the soil, it seemed to have the same effect on his voice. “So what did you think of your first fire?” He asked.  
“I don’t know that this counts.” Darcy joked.  
“Oh it definitely counts.” Steve smiled. “And it’s a good taste of what this job actually is. Five minutes of fun: initial attack, and then hours of mop up.”  
“Hours?” Darcy asked, looking around the fire, which had to be at least fifty percent mopped up by now.  
“Well we still have to grid for hot spots once we finish with this.”  
“Oh goody.” Darcy remembered gridding from guard school. It was even more tedious than mopping up.  
Steve snorted.

That night when Darcy got home she lay in bed smiling. She had worked on her first fire, gotten overtime and hazard pay, and on top of that, she’d made Steve laugh. Well snort. But it still counted! This might turn out to be a fun summer after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Please please please share your thoughts.   
> Also, if I don't fully explain something you should ask for me to clarify. I either forgot, or I will be getting to it in a later chapter. :)


End file.
